June 16th

I decided to check out the “English Studio” and try to find the Nada (the ward we live in) Library today. There's a sign for the English Studio on the way to the JR train station. It provides English lessons, cooking classes and the “English Shower Method.” I forgot to ask about the English Shower Method. They offer one-on-one English tutoring and group “chat” time. I'm going to email my resume to see if I can do some volunteer tutoring since I have no experience teaching English. They don't use a text book because they concentrate on conversation. Apparently, Japanese people learn a bunch of grammar and vocab in school but don't learn how to really use it. This is according to Yuki, the woman who does the administrative stuff for the studio.

Next up was the library. It is located on the third floor of a mall. The mall escalators don't actually take you to it so I had to wander around until I found an elevator that would go up to that floor. It was really, really crowded. Granted it was smaller than the Bozeman library, even though there are a lot more people in the Nada ward than in Bozeman, but there wasn't an empty seat and people were standing and reading. I don't get it. I keep expecting to find less people during the week day but everything is still crowded. I was going to do some reading and note taking for a movie idea but seeing there wasn't an empty seat I headed back up the hill.

I spotted this public sculpture near a park. All four sides are dedicated to kids. One side has kids flying kites, one they're jumping rope, one they seem to be enjoying the weather, but this was the most interesting side. It looks to me like one kid is punching the other – I guess it is supposed to be all in good fun.

I hit the public restroom in the mall and noticed the SOS button. Our bathroom at home has a call button too. I wonder if bathroom emergencies are so common they had to install an SOS button or if some law maker suffered an embarrassing incident and pushed through legislation requiring them. I thought all the toilet buttons were interesting too. Check out the flushing sound button.